The Malta Football Association has registered an increase in operational profits of over one million euros according to the governing body’s annual financial report that was presented to delegates and club members yesterday.
Ivan Mizzi, the Malta FA Treasurer, said that the latest accounts were held over ten months after changes to the association’s time-frames with the cut-off date set on March 31, 2016.
During this period the total income for the association totalled €6.1 million... an increase of €411,937 over the previous financial year – that was calculated over 12 months – while the total expenditure reached €4.3 million.
That left the association with a total operating profit of €1.6m when taking into consideration the interest receivable and finance costs.
The MFA’s assets have also increased by half a million euros over the previous year and now amount to €14.5 million.
The MFA administration income were boosted by new funds from the UEFA HatTrick Investment Programme of €950,000 that pushed the total earnings to €3.6 million.
International matches have left an income of €1.7 million, just under €200,000 less than the corresponding figure from the previous year.
Still, the association registered an increase in profit in this sector of €285,390 – almost €100,000 more than last year.
The MFA’s accounts struggled in domestic competitions though as a loss of €536,285 was recorded with the major expenses being the ground rental assistance that amounted to €172,010 and referees’ fees of €291,175.
The association is again in the red when it comes to sports facilities as they ended the financial year with a loss of €681,299. But that was a slight improvement on the previous year’s statistics which had shown a deficit of €862,885.
At the end of the presentation, MFA president Norman Darmanin Demajo told club delegates and members that during the past six years the association had received the green light from UEFA to use funds allocated by the European governing body for the association’s administration to finance the clubs’ infrastructure projects.
“When this administration started functioning, we had vowed to improve our clubs’ infrastructure,” Darmanin Demajo said.
“That required a huge financial effort as we needed around €20 million to reach our objectives. We gathered these funds after bank loans of €13 million while the remaining money came from surplus funds.
“To make sure that the association’s accounts didn’t suffer we asked permission from UEFA so we could use funds from their various programmes to be able to pay back loan fees.
“It’s not the ideal situation but today the majority of our clubs have an adequate pitch where their players can conduct training programmes.”